hiatt



(No M-odel.) 2 sheets-sham,

- .T. HIATT.

AUTOMATIG'FRUIT ASSORTEIL- No. 3 1,241. Patented Apr. '17, 1888;

- is used, as in the previous invention.

' UNITED- STATES THOMAS HIATT, OF LEESBURG, FLORIDA.

A ToMATIC' Feu T-AssoRvEsQ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 38.1,241, dated April 17, 3,888.

Application filed November 27, 1887. Serial No. 254,094. (No modeh) I To all whom/it may concern: Be it known that I, THOMAS HIATT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Leesburg, in the county of Lake and State of Florida, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fruit-Assorters, of whichthe following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to improvements in automatic fruit-assorters adapted to size and separate oranges or anyother fruit which will 'roll down an incline plane.

My present invention is an improvement upon the device shown'in'Letters Patent N0.

369,939, and bearing the date September 13, 1887, having for its object the provision of a feeding device whichis simpler and will allow of a more compact arrangement of the parts of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby :the fruit .will be more surely and steadily guided from the feed to;

the sizing-openings than when merelya trough A further object of the invention is to provide means to allow the escape from the sizing table or boardof the dirt, water, &c., which is carried by-the fruit. I

With these objects'in view my invention consists in a certain novel construction, arrangement, and combination of devices, clearly set forth hereinafter in connection with the drawings, and specifically'pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in allthe figures, Figure l is a perspective view of'the apparatus embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation,

partly in section, of the same. Fig. 3 is a "transverse sectional view on the line as x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of the feed mechanism. Fig. '5 is a detail view'of the escapement.

Referring by letter tothe drawings, A designates the" sizing-board, which. is inclined transversely from both sides toward the cen- .ter to form the groove A, and B represents a the center of the sizing-board, and the slot is slot formed at the center of the sizing-board at the bottom of the said groov.e. The groove is designed to guide the fruit accurately down designed to allow the dirtwhichjmay bestick 0'. The "side G is provided with a series of openings, 0, which diminish gradually in size toward the lower end of the board, andthe board A is provided with a similar series-of with the similarly-inclined side extensions, O

graded openings, at, which are respectively aligned with the openings 0.

g D D designate escapements, which are piv--= oted in the. aligned openings a c, with their centers inline with the angle betweenthe L board A and the side 0. The said escapements are provided with the wings E E, four-in num- 'ber,which are arranged inv the form of a cross,

whereby when one of the wings islin thehori- 'zontaLposition and closing. the opening a in the sizing-board another wing is' in the vertical position and closing the openingcin the side 0. The wings E are also provided with grooves E to correspond with the groove A Y in the board A, so that when one of the said wings is in thehori'zontal position (closing the opening a) the groove in the sizing-board will be continuous from one end to the 0ther,thereby ofiering .no obstruction to the passage of fruit. As an orange passes. over one of the wings E, the escapement will, if. not prevented,

revolve and allow the. said orangeitopass through the opening a. 1 To prevent. this revolution of the escapement, I provide the gages G, which are pivoted between the upper edges of the sides 0 0 above the openings in the sizing-board and normally dropdown in the path of the upper wing ofv the escapement. The engaging edge of'this gage may be raised and the escapement may then be revolved to allow the fruit todrop through the opening a,- but unless, the gage is first I raised the said fruit maypass freely ,over the horizontal wing of the escapement; yThesen gages are placed at varyingelevations above the assorting or sizing board, the. gage near the upper end of the board being at the greatest elevation, while the elevations of the succeeding gages. diminish gradually toward thelower end of the-board. The width of each opening a in the board is somewhat loo greater than the vdistance from the boardito the gage immediately above the said opening. Therefore, as an orange rolls down the inclined board A it will pass over the horizontal wings of the escapements as long as it does not raise one of the gages; but as soon as it arrives at a gage under which it cannot pass without raising it the escapement to which said gage belongs will be released, and the weight of the orange on the horizontal wing will be depressed and allow the fruit to drop through the opening a into a proper recep tacle. When an orange has dropped through one of the openings a, thereby turning the escapement, the wings of the latter change positions-that is, the previous horizontal wing is depressed, the previous vertical wing is in the horizontal position, and the gage G now engages the present vertical wing. It will be understood that as an orange drops through the opening a the gage G drops into its n0rmal position in the path of the approaching wing, thereby allowing only a quarter-revolution of the cscapement.

To prevent the escapement from movement in the reverse direction to that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, I provide a spring-catch, H, at the upper edge of the opening 0, which catch is so arranged that the upper wing of the escapement in passing will depress it; but when the said wing has passed, the catch will spring out in the rear of the wing and engage a it on the oppositeIside from the gage G, thus securely locking the escapement from either forward or backward motion. The only direction, therefore, in which the escapement can move is that indicated by the arrow, and it can only move in this direction when the stop-gage G is raised by the fruit.

K designates the feed-board, provided with the groove K (having sides which are inclined toward the center of the board) and the central slot L, at the bottom of the said groove.

M designates a drop-chute pivoted near the rear end to the sides of the feed-board, and adapted (when in the lowered position) to bear at the lower edge on the assorting or sizing board. The said drop-chute is provided with a central groove, M, corresponding to the grooves in the feed-board F and the sizingboard A.

N designates the stop, comprising the cross bar n and the arms at n, which are pivoted at their rear ends to the side extensions of the feed-board and operate in longitudinal grooves in the outer edges of the board. The cross-bar n is adapted to operate at the lower end of the feed-board directly over the dropchute. The .rear end of the drop-chute is connected by the rods 0 O to intermediate points of the arms at n, so that when the free end of the chute is depressed the front or free end of the stop will be raised. The utility of this stop device will be obvious. The oranges or other fruits are placed on the feed-board, where they are held from lateral motion while rolling by the groove in the board, both large and small fruit being thus equally well guided. An orange presses upon the dropchute (which is then in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2) and forces it down, thereby raising the stop N, which engages the second orange and holds it on the feed-board until the chute has been freed by the first orange and returns to its normal position. The first orange passes down the grooved board A until it raises one of ,the stop-gages G and drops throughthe opening.

The machine is so arranged that one orange is allowed to pass well on its way down the sizing-board before the next is released by the stop, so that there will be no danger of the machine becoming clogged.

The grooves in the board K, the chute M, the board A, and the wings E guide the fruit directly down the center of the machine, and thus guard against the obstruction of the passage by the fruit catching and becoming jammed.

The slots in the center of the board A and K allow the dirt to drop through, and thus prevent an accumulation which would interfere with the passage of the fruit.

The stop and chute device, which connects the lower end of the feed-board to the upper end of the sizing-board, is simple and is not not liable to need repair. It is, further, very compact, thereby allowing the feed-board and sizing-board to be arranged very close to-' getheriand thus economize space.

Iam aware that my previous patent, No. 374,153, shows a stop which is operated by the chute, and Ido not, therefore, claim this feature, broadly; but theloop-shaped stop herein described is an improvement upon that previously claimed. The stop in the previous patent is provided with a stud which obstructs the passage of the fruit, and if the fruit is small it will be liable to become jammed between the stop and the sides of the feed-board, whereas the present stop incloscs the end of the feed-board, and thus obviates this objection. Further, theloopshaped stop is lighter, may be made of wire, and is more easily applied to the board.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a fruit-assorting device, the combination, with the sizing-board A, having the groove A therein and the openings (1, of graded sizes, of the escapements D, journaled in the said openings and having the grooved wings E to close the openings a, with the grooves therein aligning with the groove in the sizing-board, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a fruit-assorting device, the combination, with the inclined sizing-board A, having openings or therein, and the inclined side 0, with similar adjacent openings, 0, of the revolving escapements journaled in the said openings, having the wings E, the swinging gages G above the said openings and engaging the upper wings of the escapements, and the spring-catches to engage the said upper wings on theside opposite the gages and pretion, with the feed-board, of the loop-shaped IO .termediate point below the end of the said board and connected at its end to the said stop, whereby v the weight. of the letter i norvent the escepements from. revolving in'the maliy holds the chute raised, substantially as" reverse direction, substantially as and for the specified.

purpose specified. v v

3. In a fruit-'assorting device, thecombina- 7 presence of two Witnesses.

stop N embracin the lower end of the feed- I I 7 p in board 5nd havin its arms n n pivoted to the I THOMAS M- sidesthereof, and the chute pivoted at an in- Wit essesz c J. P.-FRE1WELL,

, R. L. FRETWELL,

1 a v "w I In testimony that I clain1 the foregoing as I myLown Ihave hereto affixed my signaturein 

